Fall Guys update fixes PS5 crossplay and bean animations on Switch

After going free-to-play less than a week ago, Fall Guys is getting its first major update to fix several technical and visual issues across all platforms. Developer Mediatonic issued the update early this morning, which corrects some glaring issues — including that players using the PlayStation 5 version were not able to send or receive party invites from friends on other platforms like Xbox, PC, or Nintendo Switch. (Previously, they were told to mitigate the issue by redownloading the PS4 version of Fall Guys.)

In addition to overcoming that hurdle — a significant one for a game that’s best played with some bean buddies — the Nintendo Switch version’s update fixes buggy character animations. Now, other characters no longer look like stop-motion animations or bad GIFs eerily floating across the level. Mediatonic has detailed all the included fixes in a thread on its official Twitter page.

Fall Guys’ change to a free-to-play model is certainly breathing new life into the game. It became the family-friendly darling of the pandemic when it was temporarily free on PlayStation Plus, though over time its popularity and player count dwindled. Now, after being acquired by Epic Games and shifting to a free-to-play model, the game has reached a player count of 20 million in its first two days of the relaunch.

Longtime players — of which I am one — may feel like bugs and glitches are nothing new, though Mediatonic is playing catch-up in its first week on critical ones. As someone who has often kept up with friends through the pandemic while in bean form, I’m most relieved to see the visual fixes on the Switch. When I first booted up the handheld version over the weekend, it was jarring to see other characters barely animated. I know Fall Guys occasionally leans into the cringey vibes and meta silliness, but the joke gets old fast when it feels like you’re playing a broken game.

A free-to-play game has to act quickly to fix such issues or the audience may quickly turn to more reliable alternatives and forget it. Now, if only all the leftover crowns were converted to much more useful Show-Bucks currency instead of the piddling Kudos rewards that are mostly used on basic items.